MANCHESTER UNITED shrugged off the dismissal of Javier Mascherano as they strengthened their grip on retaining the Premier league title.

The Argentine midfielder was sent off for arguing with referee Steve Bennett, an incident that earned him a second yellow card towards the end of the first half.

United were already leading 1-0 at that stage but without the man who has been a lynchpin of the seven-game winning run they took into yesterday’s game at Old Trafford, Liverpool slumped to a 3-0 defeat in the second half.

Wayne Rooney, however, insisted that despite the tiring effect being down to 10 men had on Liverpool, the home side were always destined for the three points.

"We were always on top," he said. "The Liverpool players were tired at the end, but overall I don't think it would have made any difference.

"It's always nice to beat Liverpool and it's opened up a bit of a gap now at the top of the league. We know it's in our hands now and we have to try and win as many games as possible and stay top of the league.

"We've got a good mix in the dressing room and we know what we have to do between now and the end of the season."

Sir Alex Ferguson agreed with Bennett’s decision to send Mascherano off – little surprise as he had been preaching in the build-up to the game about the importance of respecting officials.

"He has been booked and kept badgering the referee," he said. "We've talked about dissent and I think that was dissent."

Ferguson also agreed that playing against 10 men didn’t alter the course of the result.

He added: "It was a really good performance – a performance of maturity. We've seen a team mature over the last six months and today they hit their high peak.

"But it's going to go right to the end. Chelsea and Arsenal are going really well. We've beaten a strong Liverpool side playing good football."

Defeat leaves Liverpool 14 points behind the leaders and only two ahead of Everton. in the race for fourth place and the Merseyside derby at Anfield looming on Sunday.